Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-11
THE GREAT SPHINX.
INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF TIE
WORK OF DlSlNTERMENT

The sand Carried Away In Large Bas-
ket--Astoni-hing Results from Appar-
emily Inadequate MeanS-Narious Ex-
vatious-Rs-;oratious of Roman Date.
The last occasion on which the Great Sphinx
was cleared down to tine level on which the
paws rest was in honor of the opening of the
Sucz canal in lS'n. The ever drifting sands
had, however, ryhuried it almost 20 the throat
when Professor Maspero, during his last year
Of office at Bou1k. began again the work Of
disintprmcnt. This work has now been going
on, somewhat intcrmttently, for more than
twelve months and is at the present time IN
active progress under the direction Of Pro
! fessor Masperu's successor, Vi. Grebaut. \
tramway has been laii down from the SphynN
to the edge Of the Pyramid plateau, passin'
close under the west face ot the grant" build
ing popularity, though Incorrectly, called tha
| temple of the Sphynx. Along this tramwaS
| light trucks convey the sand to the point 1T
which their contents are discharged, the
trucks being loaded 10y Arabs Of both sexes
, and all ages, who carry the sand upon Their
heads in large fiat baskets. ascending and de
scending all day long from the excavations
below to the tramway above and vice versa
ASTONISHING RESULTS
The means look curinusly inadequate, hut
the results are astonishing Already the en-
tire fore part of the great stone monster Is
laid bare. and the huge chest, the paws, the
space between the paws, the altar Ill front OF
them, and the platform upon which they
rest, are once more open to the light of day.
Nor is this all. Between the Sphinx and the
edge of the Pyramid plateau a vast space has
also been cleared, thus bringing to view fine
flight Of steps some ~ f ct in width. These
steps, which are described ny Piiny, We're un-
covered by CavigIia in III, but have been
entirely lost to sight for nearly seventy years
4 second flight # steps and the remains of
two Roman buildings were also found by
Caviglia, and will again be brought to light
if NJ Grebaut continues to work i'll this dlrec-
ton.
To the right of the SphinX-that is to say.
in the direction of the granite temple, to the
southwark a further excavation Is in pro
grcss, the result of which will probably con
firm the surmises of those who believe tue
Sphinx to stand in the midst of a huge artI-
fetal amphitheatre hewn out of the solid
rock This gigantic work would OF course he
contemporaneous with the Sphinx itself,
which Mariette attributed TO the mythlc
ages before the advent of Mena, the first king
of the first dynasty, and which laspero con
siders TO be- if not actually prehistoric, at all
events the oldest monument in Egypt
From the level of the area below the great
flight of steps (which Lead down, and not
W. to the Sphinx one now measures the
whole height Of the huge human-headed
monster, whose battered countenance stands
out against the cloudless sky 100 feet above.
BETWEEN TIE PAWS.
The space between the paws is thirty five
feet long and ten feet wide. This space was
anciently converted into a small sanctuary
lined with vOtive tablets, only one of which
the famous stella of Thothmes lN-yet re
mains in stu. The stella records how the
king, when upon one Of his hunting exPedI
tons lay down to rest at midday III the
shadow of the Sphinx. He there fell asleep,
and dreamed a dream in which the venerable
image cunjured him to clear away the sand in
which it was nearly buried. Then the prince
awoke and made silence in his heart ard
-owed to do that which the god had COM
maLied.
The paws Of the sphinx, as they now appear,
nre a restoration Of Roman date, being easel
In comparatively small slabs, and to some ex-
tent hollow underneath. The breast OF the
sphinx has likewise been faced with slabs, al-
parentlv in Roman times; and these slabs
have again been repaired by cutting away the
weathered surface and inserting fresh fac
ing Like the legs of the ColosSi OF the Plain,
and those of the great statue OF Aboo Slmbei,
the paws of the sphinx are covered with the
Greek scrawls of early travellers; but these
gratfi-ti are mostly Of a late period and so
slightly scratched that few are legible
throughout Such as they are, however,
Professor Mnspero has, it is understood, de
voted himself to the ungrateful and difficult
task of translating them.
NJ Grebaut's excavations are not limited TO
the clearance of the sphinx only. Various
interesting tonbs have lately been discovered
in the vicinity Of the great pyramid. and TO
the westward the face of the Libyan cliff has
been reached where it forms the natural
boundary Of the Pyramid plateau. Some
good early rockcut tombs, with built fore
courts have been found in the face Of this
cliff, in two o: which the walled up recesses
or secret chambers, called "serda's." which
were constructed for the safe keeping of
funerary portrait statues, are vet intact with
their contents-LOndon Times.